Day 2: Peru, Lima Told in Pictures

I did not take the time to make notes each evening, so other than group tours, most of the rest of the trip will be told through photo dumps and thoughts that stuck with me more than a week later.

After touring Huaca Pucllano (the pyramid) we walked to the Malecon. When I hear malecon I am instantly drawn to the first time I heard that word in Havana, Cuba. I now know it means walkway around the water. Unlike in Havana, the malecon in Peru is atop a cliff about 80 feet above the sea. My big regret for this trip is that I did not dip my toes in the Pacific Ocean. Alas, there was not enough time in Lima to conquer my wish list.

The Malecon de Miraflores is 10 kilometers. The trail is filled with public art, including Love Park, joggers, cyclists, and families. It is open 24 hours a day, and feels safe. It is a breath of fresh air from the traffic.

As Don recalls, it took us a while to find it. Perhaps we should have taken a Didi. Instead we had lunch at Manolo near Parque Kennedy, followed by a chocolate churro for dessert. Manolo was highly recommended by others in our group. I had an omelet, Don ate a vegetarian lasagna. It was a diner with an expansive menu filled with pictures. Once again we used Google Translate to fully understand the menu.

Fortified, we continued walking to the Malecon, getting lost along the way. I barely remember traveling before Google Maps, but even with it we misinterpreted intersections in our attempt to keep our phones close to our vests so no motorcycles swiped them out of our hands -- yes, that is a real problem in Lima, just as it is in any major city.

Lima's Parque del Amor reminded me of Barcelona's Park Guell more so than Philadelphia's Love Park. I wouldn't be surprised if it was inspired by Gaudi. The highlight is El Baso, the 1993 sculpture by Peruvian artist Victor Delfin. Inside the park are locals selling souvenirs, none of which interested us. I knew it was only a taste of what we would find throughout the trip. Most accepted a simple "no, gracias," but others pressed.

Some pictures from the tiny park:

We saw adventurous parasailers lining up. I was glad the earlier fog burned off so they could see Lima from the sky. I was happy on the ground.

We headed north, but now that I realize we were looking at the Pacific Ocean and not the more familiar Atlantic Ocean, we headed south. No wonder I was mixed up most of the time!

Try again...we headed towards the Barranco district, which has been described as more artsy.

We crossed a new pedestrian bridge. With its glass floor it felt intimidating crossing the gully, but it was still impressive.

This was our only sunset of the trip.

We kept walking. I loved seeing the street art. Though I recently downloaded a street art app, I have not mastered using it. I see a day trip into Philadelphia or New York City in my near future to figure out how best to use it, or else find a different street art app. Some of these pictures are from our second night, others are from our last one when we had a couple of hours to see all that we missed. Not enough time.

Though ready for dinner, we had ice cream instead. This was our only ice cream experience in Peru. Shocking given how much we like ice cream. 

On our hour walk back to the hotel we searched for Chinese near us and found a great restaurant about halfway back. Chinese food, along with chicken and sea food, is one of the most common types of restaurants in Peru. It was so good we returned on our last night. Thanks to Google Translate, we understood enough of the menu to order food we both enjoyed.

The fortune cookies were in Spanish.
Thank you, Google Translate!

Back to our room. We had a 6:25 am call time for our flight to Cusco. One of my regrets on this trip is that we did not have more time in Lima. Others did, and wished they had more time in Cusco. Just shows you can't always get what you want when you give up micromanaging the trip.